


The Kiss of Time

by PinkFluffyBabboonButt



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Churchyards, Ghosts, M/M, Old legends, SGBB 2016, SGBB 2017, im not sure which one is the actual tag for this SGBB, murder case, or - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 08:09:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10080791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkFluffyBabboonButt/pseuds/PinkFluffyBabboonButt
Summary: Sam and his brother Dean, top notch private detectives, went to a small town to solve a basic cheating spouse case. However the case gets a little bit complicated when a young boy is brutally murdered. After attending the funeral Sam meets a twinkly eyed stranger at the churchyard. Through many strange mysteries he manages to find out the truth about the murder case and the stranger. Only thing he can't solve is whether he will be able to handle the truth behind all the mysteries or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first BB and it was superfun to work at.
> 
> Thanks a lot to KrisN5! Thank you so much for the awesome art :) You can go check out her stuff in ao3 and Tumblr: my_untold_lies  
>  KrisN5 
> 
> Thanks a lot to my beta midnightstar789! All of the thing you pointed out, all the tips you gave me and the awesome help with the title and the ending really made my fic a lot better than it would've been without your help :)
> 
> This fic was inspired by an old Irish ghost story that I read a while back in a ghost story compilation.

Despite the sun shining almost painfully bright the wind wasn't ceasing. Instead it whipped Sam's brown locks into his face, where they stuck to the tear tracks drying on his cheeks.

"I'm sorry buddy." Dean said to the grave as he rested the boy's teddy bear against the gravestone. Sam watched in silence as Dean stood up and giving one last look to the grave he turned away leaving Sam behind.

Dorian Millers was one of the local boys who'd often visit the local bar. His father Mr. Millers ran it and Dorian could be often spotted sitting next to the counter. That's how Sam and Dean first met him. For some reason he'd taken a liking to the brothers and soon he was tagging along with the brothers everywhere unless they specifically, mostly for the case, asked him not to.

Sam kept standing by the grave without anything better to do. He wasn't ready to leave the boy behind yet. His death had been horrible. Dorian had bled to death in Sam's arms. The image of the boy slowly bleeding to death while they'd waited for the ambulance or for Dean to arrive was still haunting him.

Turning away from the grave Sam began to walk away from it but he didn't leave the churchyard. He wanted to stay near Dorian a little longer. While lost in his thoughts Sam didn't notice how he'd ended up walking into the older part of the churchyard.

The local churchyard was quite big compared to normal churchyards. It was roughly divided into two parts, the older churchyard and the new churchyard. The older one, as per its name, was old, almost at the point of slowly decaying. Apparently it was a cursed place and no one was supposed to go there. Even the grave keeper didn't go there.

It was said that almost two hundred years ago some rich person had bought the land around the church. He’d wanted to make sure that all of his family members and that of the future generations would have their graves in the same place. It was said that the desire to have all of the family members buried in the same churchyard was ingrained so far into the family, that some members banned all others from leaving town.

Sam found the story strange and different from the traditional small town legends but then again all small towns had their own weird legends. Some of them were true and some weren't. Although most of them weren't true Sam, unlike Dean, was smart enough to keep his skepticism discreet when the townsfolk told them not to venture deeper into the older part of the churchyard, even though the last member of the family had died almost half a century ago and the original manor had been demolished near a century ago. There was really no reason for him to go to the older churchyard but the way people kept avoiding it made him curious and a curious Sam was something even Dean couldn't control.

The older churchyard wasn't special in anyway. One would've thought that having been there since 1800s somehow the architecture or the gravestones would be special, but they weren't. Only thing special about the place was the script used on the gravestones. Someone had actually bothered to write everyone's names in a very elaborate fashion. But then again strangely the names weren't long at all, most didn't even have the surnames on them. Truly the one thing that was constant of the time was their biblical names.

Since Sam wasn't in his most curious mood that day instead of venturing deeper into the older churchyard he decided to turn back, pay one last visit to Dorian and then head back to the motel where he and Dean were staying at. As he turned he bumped into someone nearly knocking them down.

"Woah. Careful there giant!" A man said.

Normally Sam would've scoffed at the man for his joke but this once he let it slide. Sam didn't realize how morose he was looking before the man's jolly expression turned into a worried one.

"I'm sorry. Not the best day for jokes?" He said and extended his hand, "I'm Gabe."

Sam took the hand to give it a quick shake.

"No, not really. I'm Sam." He mumbled. He wasn't in a chatty mood either and he wanted to get away as soon as possible. The man, however didn't seem to get the hint.

"You attended the funeral today, didn't you?" The man asked worry flashing through his eyes.

"Yeah." Sam said. He thought they'd fall into an awkward silence and he'd get a chance to awkwardly leave but the stranger, Gabe, was having none of it. He went on talking.

"Someone of yours?"

"No. I just knew Dorian through his father. He was a sweet little boy." Sam answered.

The man crunched his face up. If Sam hadn't been feeling annoyed by Gabe he might've found it cute.

"Oh-kay, can't recognize. Dorian?"

"Dorian Millers. Mr. Millers' son." Sam cleared up.

Gabe didn't seem to recognize the boy which was strange. The size of the town didn't really leave space for any local strangers. Everyone knew everyone else. In fact then Sam realized that he hadn't seen the man anywhere earlier or heard anyone mention him.

"You're not a local, are you?" He asked Gabe.

"Actually, I am. I just don't really socialize much so I'm not familiar with everyone and nearly no one is familiar with me anymore." Gabe told.

"Anymore?"

"Ran away from home in my teenage years. Pretty much been on my own since then."

"Oh, I see." Was all Sam could muster up. What else was he supposed to say?

"And you? A new face in the town aren't you?"

"Actually just a visiting face." Sam told Gabe.

The men fell silent but it wasn't the uncomfortable kind. To Sam's surprise he was enjoying the silent moment with Gabe. Despite the playful and teasing air that Gabe seemed to naturally possess it was evident from his eyes that he knew more than well the pain of losing someone he loved.

"What about you?" Sam asked.

"Told ya Sammy-boy. I'm local but like to be left alone." Gabe turned to flash a carefree smile at Sam.

"No, I meant. What are you doing here? Visiting a grave?"

"I came for a walk. Despite the warnings of those old farts this part of the churchyard is beautiful. Walking here feels nice. Besides no one wants to tend this place so after each funeral I come to check if anyone's finally dared to make a mess here. I'm sort of a janitor for this part of the churchyard." Gabe said.

Sam turned to look at the decaying part of the churchyard, for the first time noticing things that weren't gravestones. It didn't really fit Sam's aesthetic but he could see the appeal of it. The sun rays coming in the right angle made the dead stillness and the gravestones covered by wild plants and moss look magnificent in their own way. Only then he realized that the sun had begun to set. He hadn't realized how much time he'd ended up spending at the churchyard. It hadn't felt that long at all.

Sam turned back to excuse himself and say bye to Gabe. However, the shorter man wasn't there anymore. He'd left without saying a thing. Sam turned to look in all directions to see where Gabe could've gone. His eyes fell on two men beckoning to him from the invisible border between the older and the newer part of the churchyard. The sly man had actually scurried away leaving Sam to deal with the mess.

[](http://imgur.com/s4X8BUH)

The local people were very strict about the local legend. No one was supposed to interact with the family when they'd been alive and no one was supposed to enter the older part of the churchyard even after the family had died out. It took Sam some time to convince the men that he would never make the mistake again. He really felt like killing Gabe next time he found the man despite the fact that that night instead of having nightmares of Dorian he'd ended up dreaming of Gabe's whiskey gold eyes all night long.


	2. Chapter 2

Almost a week had passed since Dorian's funeral. Sam and Dean were still trying to figure out the killer’s identity. Usually, no matter how hard the case was they could solve a case as if it were a child's play even if it took time. But this once neither of the brothers could focus on their work, especially Sam, who was having trouble ever since Dorian's death. The nightmares, the sudden images of nearly dead Dorian and the smell of blood following him wherever he went were hindering Sam's progress on the case much to Dean's chagrin. Dean understood that Sam needed time but he was also worried that something else might happen if they don't act fast. And since Sam refused to back off from the case Dean needed him to steel up a little but Sam was unable to do that either. Each time he felt he's got it he ended up getting yet another breakdown.

In the end they'd ended up having a bigger argument when Sam once again refused to back off from the case and Sam left the motel room to get some fresh air before they ended up killing each other. It was already quite late in the afternoon when Sam arrived at the churchyard, not wanting to attract any undue attention he made his way to the older portion. He wasn't sure what exactly made him go there, but at the moment it was far better option than sitting in the dingy motel room or go somewhere else to be glared at by the disappointed town's folks. Sam decided to sneak into the older part of the churchyard. He convinced himself that the way local people guarded the place it could easily be hiding a clue or two, even though in reality Sam just felt reading the biblical names on the gravestones strangely relaxing.

As Sam crossed the invisible line between the older, decaying part of the churchyard, and the newer, well kept part he spotted the golden haired man at the same spot again. This time, however, Gabe was sitting in front of an old grave.

Sam realized Gabe had lied to him during their first meeting. He hadn't been there simply for a walk. Or to take care of any messes. He'd been there to visit a grave. Gabe was sitting right where they'd bumped into each other the first time and talking to the grave. Whoever was lying in the grave must've meant a lot to Gabe. Sam watched as the shorter man began to shake and soon was wiping tears from his face with the sleeve of the ridiculous red leather jacket he was wearing.

If Gabe had only went on talking to the person he'd lost Sam would've left him alone. He had no right to interrupt such a situation but seeing Gabe cry like that broke a tiny piece of Sam's heart. Without thinking twice he slowly walked up to the shorter man and kneeled down to pull him into an awkward hug. Gabe stiffened for a second before easing into Sam's hug letting the taller man hold him till he was done with crying.

"I'm sorry about the hug. Didn't mean to suddenly make you feel awkward." Sam tried to explain himself when Gabe finally broke the contact.

"It's okay. Specially when someone like you is hugging." Gabe said with a cheeky grin despite tears still making his eyes glossy.

Sam couldn't stop the tiny smile creeping up on his lips, "No flirting when you're still crying. Besides that was a bad one."

"Aww, I'm not allowed to praise the man who lent his shoulder for this damsel in distress to cry on?" Gabe asked with a childish huff.

It was obvious Gabe was trying to act as if he had not just been crying. Respecting Gabe's need for privacy Sam decided to drop the matter there and humor Gabe with his flirting. Soon enough both men were talking and slowly making their way through the rows of old graves before Gabe pointed out one extremely large gravestone. It must've been very old since the, now flat fallen, gravestone was covered in dry moss and tiny plants that had yet to take over many of the other graves.

"So, I know you're not local. How come you were at Dorian's funeral? A distant relative?" Gabe asked.

"Actually no. I just came here for work. Me and my brother go from town to town for our work and usually end up staying for small periods of time. We met Dorian at Mr. Millers' bar." 

"Oh. I see. What do you and your brother do then?"

The question unsettled Sam which was surprising. Each time the brothers made up a different life story for themselves when they did fieldwork for their cases and told it to anyone who asked but wasn't part of the investigations. However, sitting with Gabe on the cold mossy gravestone and looking into Gabe's whiskey gold eyes it was hard for Sam to remember what story he and Dean had made up for this particular case.

"I— I'm— I mean we are private detectives." He finally stuttered.

Sam wanted to hit himself with a log. It wasn't like he'd never encountered attractive people before. In fact it took more than two meetings for Sam to find anyone attractive at all but there he was, breaking the rules of his job for a short, cheeky man. He could almost feel the hormones in him raging through his veins as if he were a teenager.

Gabe on the other hand didn't look surprised at all. With a shrug of his shoulders he went on talking as if finding a private detective in such a slowed down, sleepy town was a daily thing for him.

"Dorian was a part of your case?"

"Not before his death. Initially we came here to solve one of those ridiculous cheating spouse cases. We didn't even realize there was something bigger going on in this town before Dorian was killed." Sam responded.

He wanted to immediately turn around and bang his head on the gravestone they were sitting on. What was taking over him? He was telling Gabe more than he should. More than Gabe even asked. Last time he'd done it when he'd met Jess for the first time. It had been so easy to blurt everything about his abusive father to her. Luckily she'd been wonderful and embraced him despite everything. Sam wondered if Gabe was like that as well.

Luckily Gabe seemed to pick up on his embarrassment and didn't ask anything else. Instead he let out a sigh and tilted his head towards the setting sun. They'd ended up spending a lot of time together again. Sam knew Dean would kill him with his barely hidden older brother over protectiveness. He had to head back to the motel.

"It's quite late. I think I should head back to the motel." Sam said still squinting at the first twinkling star. To be honest Gabe's company felt nice and Sam wasn't ready to go yet. He hadn't even noticed how much time had passed before Gabe made him aware of it. It certainly hadn't felt like so long.

"Yeah, I need to head home too." Gabe said with a warm, and similar longing smile.

As an apology for ditching Sam, at the mercy of the angry locals last time, the way he had Gabe showed Sam a normally unused exit that he used to avoid the continuously spying locals who kept a strict guard on the churchyard.

"See you later." Gabe said with a wink

"See you." Sam smiled and turned to make his way back to the motel according to Gabe's instructions.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sam! Take a look at this." Dean pushed a slightly improved sketch towards Sam.

Since they'd been unable to find any other leads, the brothers had decided to focus entirely on Dorian's death. Until now it all had seemed to be useless but seeing the cleaned up body had given them new hope. Despite being random slits the way the cuts had been made on Dorian's body hinted some sort of occultist activity. However, it didn't seem like the basic black magic stunt with crosses and sexually deprived demons.

Dean was in charge of figuring out the patterns from the photos and sketching them down for Sam while the latter worked his wonders on the net and with the books. With the drawing skills (or the lack of them) that the brothers possessed dealing with the case this way was quite hard but there was nothing they could do about it. Any information that wasn't either pop culture or pretty recent wasn't really Dean's cup of tea but Sam couldn't even say Dorian's name out loud. And no matter how much he protested Dean wasn't letting his already devastated brother get a look of the photos in the file so they had to do the work through Dean's slowly improving sketches.

Still the results were pretty fruitless. Either the killer thought that random cuts were enough for an occultist group to function or this was the killer's way to shake the brothers off of his trail. Frustrated by the countless hours of work not bringing any results Sam decided to visit the graveyard again.

Two weeks had already passed since the last meeting with Gabe and no matter how many times Sam convinced himself that this had nothing to do with Gabe he was very well aware that it had everything to do with him. On their second meeting Sam had been able to hold a proper conversation with Gabe. Talking with Gabe made him feel light headed, all the clouded thoughts cleared up and afterwards he could focus on his work.

As Sam walked down the road towards the park that he had to cross to get to the churchyard an old memory flashed through his mind. It was of Jess. Back in college they used to often stay up late on weekends. Jess would make pb and jelly sandwiches and hot chocolate for them and they'd sit eating, drinking, and talking about anything and everything while watching the setting sun and then the twinkling stars. After Jess' death Sam hadn't been able to have such lengthy conversations with anyone. Sure he and Dean often talked long but mostly for the cases or for bickering. Being able to have actual proper conversations with someone after so long felt good.

Just the thought of maybe spotting Gabe at the churchyard brought a smile on Sam's lips. As he made his way through the park a group of boys approached him.

"Hey, mister!"

"Yeah?" Sam asked, surprised by the sudden approach.

"You going to the churchyard, aren't you? We've seen you loiter there a few times." One of the boys asked.

"Yes, I'm going there but not to 'loiter'. I'm just going to take a walk there since the churchyard is so beautiful." Sam smiled.

"Whatever. Just be careful of the ghost." The boy said with a supposedly sneaky grin. It was obvious the boys were trying to mess with Sam on account of the local legend.

With a few snarky arguments going back and forth between the grown man and the young boys they ended up with a challenge. If Sam came back his face either red or white (as a sign of being scared) he'd buy a treat for the boys and if that didn't happen then the boys will buy him a treat with all of their pocket money. With a roaring laugh Sam agreed and continued to make his way to the churchyard.

Once he reached the large gates of the churchyard he realized he'd been overly excited for no reason. There was no guarantee that he'd actually bump into Gabe again. Still keeping his hopes up he ventured further into the churchyard. He wasn't here for Gabe, he was here for a walk and if Gabe happened to be here then sure he'd love to have a chat. But by no means was he here for the shorter man with whiskey coloured eyes and golden locks of hair.

Despite convincing himself otherwise, Sam kept walking to the spot he always met Gabe and as if as an answer to his silent prayers Gabe was standing right there.

"Sammoose! Where have you been?" Gabe nearly pounced all the way to Sam closing the gap between them.

Sam rolled his eyes even though he was happy to see Gabe being equally excited of their meeting. During their second conversation Gabe had taken to calling Sam by anything but his own name. Gabe's excuse was that he couldn't call anyone by their real names and required nicknames, however, Sam had a feeling that he was the only person who got all the nicknames exclusively tailored by Gabe. Despite most of the names being rather tacky and ridiculous Sam didn't mind them. The names were stupid but the one using them was not.

They went to sit on their gravestone while Sam told Gabe about the boys and the ghost they had betted on. Of course the options of Sam's face being either red or white piqued Gabe's interest. He was rather keen on making Sam leave with his face flushed. And the boys didn't need specific reasoning for that. As usual despite his increasing liking for Gabe, Sam blushed in embarrassment and ignored the suggestive flirting to ask about Gabe's day.

And as usual Gabe gave him a rather vague answer since being a runaway he did a bit of everything and didn't really want to discuss any of that with a "lady". Sam scrunched his face and promised to punch Gabe next time he'd call Sam a lady or a princess. Gabe just snickered at the taller man and began to tell Sam a story of one of his dogs that reminded him of Sam.

"Guess, I had a hard time trying to stay angry. She was such an adorable little thing." Gabe said with the smile of a doting parent when they tell stories of their children.

"You're lucky, Gabe. My brother hates anything that doesn't walk on two feet and drink beer so I've never been able to keep a dog or any other pet of my own. Then again I don't think that I would be a good owner with the sort of life I live."

"But a dog would be so helpful for you guys."

"Yeah. Dean still wouldn't allow one. The only time I used that as an excuse Dean began sniffing everything, case related or not, himself to prove to me that we don't need dogs." Sam chuckled at his brother's stupidity.

"You are kidding me." Gabe stared at Sam who turned to look at the shorter man's face.

This far it had been Sam who'd end up staring at Gabe with a dumbfounded expression after hearing all the outrageous stories of Gabe's shenanigans. For the first time he'd managed to make Gabe do that and Sam couldn't deny the fact that he was quite enjoying the expression.

In fact he might've been enjoying the expression too much. Suddenly he was all too aware of the way Gabe's eyes were glittering or the way his lips quirked up no matter what expression he was sporting. Without realizing it, Sam leaned closer to Gabe. The moment he was about to press their lips together Gabe turned his face away making the kiss land on his cheek and breaking Sam from the sudden trance.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm sorry. I should've asked first if you even swing that way. I just thought since you joke around so much. I also should've made sure if you even like me or not." Sam felt embarrassed.

"It's okay. Being kissed by a beauty like you," Gabe ignored the awkwardness and leaned forward to give Sam a quick peck on the cheek, "is something any man would die for no matter what way they swing. Besides I swing every way one could possibly swing. But you've got some audience spying on you in case you didn't notice. Don't want to give them a show, do you?"

Gabe lightly nodded his head to the side indicating the direction where the boys from earlier in the evening where hiding. Well, attempting to hide. They were so clearly exposed that Sam wondered how he'd missed them at all.

"Hey! You boys! Come here!" Gabe beckoned the boys.

"Are you two boyfriends?" One of the boys asked without skipping a beat.

"Hoping to be someday." Gabe said with a mischievous grin, making Sam blush even more.

"Is this why you both sneak here even though it's not allowed?" Another boy piped in.

Sam was surprised to see the boys' reaction. He'd thought seeing two men kissing would make the children react in a not so calm way. As if reading Sam's mind Gabe explained.

"There're already a few gay couples in this town so everyone's actually pretty used to it. Though the only one I know is the garage owner and his good-for-nothing husband, Bobby and Crowley."

"There's also Charlie and Jo." One of the boys said in a matter of fact way.

Hearing it made Sam calm a little and for the first time he realized how late it already was. He wouldn't have minded staying a little longer but if the boys were going to stick to him like glue then he was responsible of making sure they got home in time. Saying farewells to Gabe he gathered the boys and lead them out of the churchyard the normal way, deciding to keep the emergency exit as his and Gabe's little secret.

Luckily no adults were keeping an eye on the churchyard so the whole group of hilariously scared males managed to sneak back to the park without being called out. When they reached the park all of the boys promised to keep the evening a secret and dispersed pretty quickly. Some of them went home, some went over to each other's places and some decided to stay out even longer. Only one of the boys stuck to Sam's side even when he'd walked out of the park.

"Do you live in this direction too?" Sam tried to start a conversation with the boy, only to get the cold shoulder from him.

All the way to the motel where the brothers were staying the boy followed Sam. Sam tried to start a conversation on several occasions but in vain. The boy wouldn't utter a word to him. Finally at the parking plot of the motel the boy opened his mouth for the first time.

"He killed Dorian. He should've stayed dead but he didn't so Dorian had to die."

Saying that the boy sprung off without a second glance leaving Sam confused standing where he was. Most probably the boy meant Gabe. But why? And what did he mean by Gabe being dead yet not actually and so making Dorian die? Could he even take the boy's words seriously, since he was one of the boys who were trying to scare Sam just the same day? The boys had never even asked who Gabe was. Sam had thought that maybe Gabe wasn't as unknown to the townspeople as he thought he was. In the end Sam decided that the boy must've been joking with him.

Sam was still trying to wrap his head around the boy's strange joke when he entered the motel room, they had rented, only to discover Dean sitting on the floor with a lot of sketches scattered around him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Sammy, you back?" Dean looked up from the sketches.

"Yeah. What's with all this?" Sam eyed the sketches curiously.

"I think I might've found some sort of consistency in the cuts. Come check these out."

Dean was right. As they had suspected the cut marks indeed hadn't been just some random slashes. They had been elaborately placed all over Dorian's body. Since the brothers couldn't get an access on the body anymore Dean had attempted to draw a silhouette of a body on the floor of the motel room.

"So this is where there was a seemingly 'not' reversed cross." Sam drew the cross on the 'chest'.

"Yeah, and this is where there was a pentagram."

"But they'd divided it into parts and carved them on him far apart."

The brothers went on drawing all the different symbols on the right spots, according to Dean's findings. After a few symbols Sam noticed that the trick the killer had used was a very simple one yet it had managed to keep the brothers confused for so long.

The killer had divided all of the symbols into smaller parts and carved them on Dorian's body, each bit within some distance. The size of the distance, at the moment, seemed like a random decision on the killers part. The killer had also divided the symbols into entirely random parts, without any symmetry or consistency to the divided parts, which is why it took so long for even Sam to realize that the carvings on Dorian's chest were supposed to form a reversed cross. Besides due to the large amount of symbols divided into smaller parts that were scattered all over Dorian's fairly small body, the symbols ended up overlapping each other. This overlapping of symbols kept the brothers further confused for an even longer time.

It took them a while to be done with their task. In the end to Sam's pride there was only one symbol he couldn't identify since it wasn't a basic cultist symbol. His interest in occult and mythology back when he was a teenager payed off well. However, Sam was just too tired to bother about the symbol or Gabe whom he'd nearly forgotten while he was working with Dean. 

Leaving the chalk masterpiece on the floor, careful not to mess it up when walking past it, Sam headed for a bath. Even though he'd entirely forgotten the little boy and his cryptic words, he hadn't been able to forget Gabe himself. The spot on his cheek where Gabe had kissed him was still tickling. As Sam eased his long limbs into the dingy little bathtub full of hot water, he ran his fingers over his cheek. 

The golden orbs of Gabe’s eyes flashed through his mind. Ever since meeting Gabe Sam had been unable to forget about the man. No matter how hard he tried in the end he would always end up thinking about him. The way Gabe laughed or flirted or just looked at Sam. Sam could feel his cheeks flush red even though the bath water had cooled down already. He was behaving like a teenager when he was supposed to be focusing on the case. He seriously needed to get a grip of himself.

After the bath for once Sam took Dean's advice and instead of staying up all night with the help of coffee, he ate a proper dinner and went to sleep earlier than usual. However, his sleep was troubled by the day’s events.

He dreamt of the older churchyard. In his dream he was walking to the churchyard again. He was crossing through the park when he was approached by the boys again. However, the only boy who wasn't a big blurry bob was the mysterious boy. Sam ended up betting with him. Next thing Sam saw was the entrance to the older churchyard, he was walking past the rows of the graves while searching for Gabe. Suddenly he appeared in front of him out of the blue. Sam began to follow Gabe to the gravestone. However, during their way back to the gravestone Gabe turned into swirls that began to fuse into one big entity. Sam didn't notice the change at first. It was subtle and happened only whenever Sam was distracted by either Gabe or the quickly setting sun.

When Gabe had completely turned into strange swirls Sam finally realized what had happened. Sam froze on the spot in shock. The different swirls had turned into the pieces of the last symbol. They fused into one large letter, a capital G. The strangest thing was that the pieces didn't turn into just any G. The shape of the G was similar to the letters on the gravestones. But soon it morphed into a much simpler version and stopped changing shape. Sam reached his hand out to touch the symbol and see if what he was seeing was right. But before he could do anything the alarm clock went off startling Sam awake from his restless slumber.


	6. Chapter 6

"Morning." Sam said to Dean as the latter staggered out of the toilet still rubbing his eyes.

"Mmrng." Dean mumbled as he proceeded to get changed.

"I figured out the symbol. Wanna get a look at it?"

"Yeah. Let's check it out first and then decide what we should do next."

Dean watched keenly as Sam showed him how the pieces of the symbol could be aligned into the second version of the G Sam had seen in his dream. Then Sam drew the symbol on the ankle of their model, approximately where he thought the killer meant for the symbol to be.

 

"I looked at all of the sources I could at this time of the day and couldn't find any links between this symbol and any cults. Apparently it's some simpler form of gothic script but that's all I can give you now. I think I'll also hit up the local library later today."

"I think I've seen something similar to this one somewhere." Dean said with a contemplating frown.

"You have?"

"Yeah, there's this one guy I know, Cas. I think I've seen it at his place."

"Oh, should we go there first then?"

"No, I think we better split up. You go search in the library I'll go and ask him. It'll save our time, we've wasted enough already as it is."

"Okay, sounds good. By the way have you thought what we should do about the Millers yet?"

After Dorian's death his father had become very reluctant to be in touch with the brothers anymore. At first the brothers had been understanding. In such cases it was normal for a parent to lose his trust from the detectives or police officers. Besides Mrs. Millers was mentally unstable which made Dorian's father more of a single parent which lead to him having a rather codependent relationship with his children. Thus loosing Dorian had been a big blow to him. He needed some time before the brothers could question him.

However the way Mr. Millers had been avoiding them and refusing any attempt of contact was just ridiculous. Suspicious. Even almost a month later Mr. Millers has been avoiding them like plague and going to his bar was of no use. He'd just vanish somewhere into the back sending someone else to take care of the cash register.

 

Sam shifted from weight one leg to the other as he waited for the librarian to collect all the books she thought would be useful for Sam. After Dorian's death the truth about their occupation had spread quickly throughout the small town.

Apparently the librarian was a huge fan of sir Arthur C. Doyle and wanted to help Sam with his investigation. The girl was sweet but her enthusiasm was getting on Sam's nerves. Since the previous night he'd been unable to shake off the unsettling feeling. The dream was weird but that wasn't what was bothering Sam at all since he'd welcome anything but nightmares of Dorian. The symbol was what was bothering him.

If he was right then the first G in his dream was similar to the ones used on the gravestones in the older churchyard. Since there was the legend of some random ghost in the churchyard it could easily mean that some strange group in the town had come up with the horrid idea of using the legend for occultist activity. In such cases it usually was the teenagers or the bored middle aged men who came up with such stupid ideas. But by now Sam was more or less familiar with different groups in the town and none of them felt mad enough to do anything like that. If his conclusions were right then most likely someone held a personal grudge against the Millers or even Dorian himself besides the second G, the one carved on Dorian's leg didn't fit in this conclusion. For now there were too many different outcomes to such a scenario and Sam wasn't eager to face any of them.

"Here you go." The librarian, a young woman in her early twenties, smacked a pile of books on the table in front of Sam making him flinch. "Don't worry, no one ever visits this place at this time so a little bit of noise is no biggie." She flashed him a smile.

"Oh, I see. By the way isn't this G similar to the ones on the gravestones in the older churchyard?" Sam asked, showing a paper with the first version on it, hoping to wake up some sort of a gossiper in the girl.

"Could be. I've never been there. To be honest I'm a bit of a scaredy cat. I've never cared to know much about the legend or go to the churchyard. Besides that story's been busted as a hoax for years. Even the most bored of our teens don't bother about that."

"Oh, I see. I just thought that the way the adults keep guarding that part of the churchyard it might have some significance." Sam said still hoping to ignite a bit longer conversation to get more information.

"Actually now that you said it. After someone dies in this town they do put up their guards. But it soon dies down. But I hardly believe that has anything to do with the legend. The kids might not bother about the older churchyard. But the newer. Oh, do they love fooling around there, so that might be a reason. But if you're still curious about the legend you should visit Bobby at his garage. Bobby's one of the remaining old geezers more familiar with the legend than any of us."

"Okay. Thanks for the info."

Talking with the librarian made Sam realize how stupid his reasoning was. He'd been too focused on the local legend. In fact so focused that he'd even seen that weird dream. Pushing the older churchyard out of his mind he focused on old fonts and their significances and meanings for next four hours.

It was a little after noon that Sam had had enough of reading. He was in need of a proper lunch and he wanted to know if Dean had found out something yet.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam was standing in front of the churchyard gates again. He'd already finished his lunch and tried to call Dean, who'd just texted him back that he's still talking to Cas and will be back soon. He'd tried to talk to the Millers but in vain. Sam wondered how much longer it would take Charlie, an old trusted friend of theirs, to dig up all the information about Mr. Millers. Sure, they'd kept an eye on him as a part of the protocol since the terrible incident but the way Mr. Millers had been behaving Dean had felt compelled to contact the local police first. And when that proved to be useless then he contacted Charlie. Charlie hadn't sent them any information yet.

 

Since there was nothing better for Sam to do he found himself walking to the churchyard again. He wondered if it'll be okay to ask Gabe about the legend. Although he knew this was stupid he still felt like he should work on this theory a little bit more. Maybe he might come up with a useful piece of information.

Gabe wasn't there. It was silly how Sam always expected Gabe to be there as if he lived there. He didn't let the absence of Gabe bother him. Instead he walked past the rows of graves, this time paying attention to the letters on the graves. He found several names with a capital G but none of them had the second version of the G. All of them were the basic gothic ones he'd seen first in his dream. At some point when he was done inspecting yet another gravestone he stood straight only to realize that there were too many graves for him to go through. He wondered if Gabe being a more frequent visitor at the churchyard was better aware of where exactly he could find the gravestone with the script matching the one Sam was looking for.

Despite his happy-go-lucky nature Gabe was actually very well versed about everything. Even though Gabe kept saying it was nothing Sam was more than sure that Gabe had a thirst for knowledge just the way Sam did. And if he's been visiting the churchyard for as long as Sam imagined him to have done then Gabe was bound to have dug up some information about the things in the churchyard.

As Sam made his way through the row of graves he was most familiar with since he'd walked past them every time he'd been in the churchyard, it was the same place where he'd met Gabe, his eyes fell on one of the graves. It was the one Gabe had been crying in front of. Sam bent down to take a better looks at the name.

Cas

The name written on the gravestone was only halfway exposed since there was a layer of moss covering it. But what caught his attention was the script. It was different from the rest of the gravestones, and eerily similar to the second G he'd seen in his dream. Sam scratched the moss off as best as he could with bare hands.

Castiel Novak

The first name was biblical just like the others but for a change there was a surname too. When he'd first seen Cas written in the gravestone Sam had thought that given the position of the first syllable the name would simply be very long because none of the other gravestones had surnames. But he'd actually found a gravestone with a surname on it, Novak. It sounded like a Slavic name. Sam tried to remember if he'd encountered that name in any earlier studies. Maybe even in a novel but he couldn't come up with anything.

Sam was startled out of his excited trance by Gabe who'd just arrived at their meeting spot.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ah, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for me my knight in leather jacket." Gabe said dramatically and spun around to flop on Sam's arms after the twirl.

With a snarky smile Sam stepped aside making Gabe almost fall down, luckily the shorter man was also much more agile than what the looked like.

"Now, now Samshine. It's not good manners to let your beloved fall down on the ground." Gabe chastised him playfully making Sam laugh.

"You? My beloved? In your dreams Gabe."

"Well, talking of my dreams. In them I'm much more than your beloved." Gabe said with a wink.

"Uh huh?"

"Uh huh. Like babe, darling and," Gabe had the telltale expression of disaster on his face, "Gabe!" He moaned making Sam confused.

It took a while for the information to sink into Sam’s mind. Gabe waited patiently for Sam to realize what he meant. When Sam finally did his eyes blew to the size of plates.

"Keep your wet dreams to yourself you creep." Sam said with an embarrassed voice. Turning to his heels he walked to their gravestone. It took Gabe a little time to catch up to him with his shorter legs but soon he was walking next to Sam trying to stifle his laughter while Sam kept turning from a metaphorical beetroot red to almost an actually having a face that color.

"How come you're here at this time?" Gabe asked as he hoisted himself next to Sam.

"To be honest I think I've made a little progress on the case and I was thinking I'd discuss about it with you." Sam confessed.

"Shouldn't that stuff be like confidential or have you started loosing your cool like people do with their crushes." Gabe waggled his eyebrows playfully even though he clearly was curious.

"Actually since you once said you're more familiar with everything old in this town I thought you might be able to give me some insight on this matter. But now that you say it I don't really lose my cool with my crushes so I think I'll keep my mouth zipped about the case." Sam spat back maliciously as he watched Gabe's curious expression turn into a panicked one.

"Hey! That's mean. You know very well I'm curious. Spit it out right now."

"Spit out what?"

"Sammich!"

"Yes?"

"Sam." Gabe said with a voice that was simultaneously threatening and begging.

"Fine, you big whiny baby. I'm forgiving you just this once, next time you make fun of my crush I'll go kiss Dean on the cheek instead of kissing yours." Sam said with a teasing smirk.

"No way!" Gabe's eyes lit up with surprise. With a grin he shuffled closer to Sam and took a supposedly attentive pose, dramatically resting one leg over the other with his hands on his lap, to listen what Sam had to say.

With an amused smile Sam began to give him a short description of Dorian's death and to Gabe's credit he listened through it without any reactions. It was hard for Sam to even tell everything without every gory detail, if Gabe had had uttered even a word Sam might've had yet another breakdown. Then he came to the part with the cuts and slashes. Sam began by telling about the most obvious ones leaving the G as the last one.

As Sam went on about the cuts on Dorian's thighs his eyes fell on Gabe's ankle that'd gotten exposed when he'd dramatically thrown his one leg over the other. There a little above his medial malleolus was a tiny tattoo. The letter G. It was exactly similar to the one he'd seen in his lucid dream and later discovered on Dorian's ankle.

In a span of mere moments all the questions about possible cult activities in the town ran through his mind. He'd actually intended to ask those questions of Gabe when the shorter man could've easily been the one to be the murderer and some sort of a cultist himself. How hadn't he seen it earlier? Everything about Gabe was so vague. Suddenly the image of Dorian taking his last painful breaths in his arms flashed through his mind.

There was a strange shuffling noise when Sam entered the old building. The place itself looked nothing like the warehouses in thrillers or horror movies. It was pretty decent compared to its reputation. He switched on the crappy flashlight that he'd picked up in his hurry to get to Dorian. Even though he was stepping lightly making sure he made no noise the painstakingly slow and obvious shuffling kept getting distant until it stopped near a pile of crates. As Sam approached the crates he heard labored breathing and sniffles coming from the other side of the crate pile.

"Dorian? Are you there?" Sam asked hoping it would be so. If the sound of Dorian's voice had been any proper hint then they had very little time to find the boy.

The sniffling stopped for a moment but Sam kept walking to the spot where the noise was coming from. What he discovered there was almost on par with Jess' death. Dorian was curled up on the ground on a puddle of his own blood.

Within a blink Sam was next to the boy trying to pick him up. However, an unnatural howl erupted from Dorian's mouth making Sam aware of the broken bones visibly twisted under his skin. Unable to do anything else he quickly called for an ambulance and Dean too. When it came to wounds and serious injuries Sam was quite good at dealing with them but the level of torture practiced on Dorian was entirely out of Sam's abilities.

Despite the best of their tries neither the ambulance nor Dean could reach the two of them in time. As Sam waited for anyone to come to his aid the jolly little boy gave a final sigh, his body stilling, tucked securely in Sam’s arms.

Sam snapped out of his flash back when he heard Gabe's worried voice.

"Sam?"

"Ah, sorry. Just got a bit distracted." Sam quickly composed himself again, "The tattoo on your ankle. It's nice. The font is similar to the one used on the gravestone I was looking at earlier."

"Oh, this one." Gabe flashed him an uncomfortable smile and pulled his sock back up to hide his ankle, "It was just a spur of the moment way back when I was young, you know, got enchanted by the writing on the gravestone too and made a silly decision."

Sam wasn't sure what to make of Gabe's answer. Too many different scenarios were playing through in his mind. Only one thing was common in all of them. They ended with Dorian being dead. Whether it was Gabe or not who'd murdered Dorian, Sam was sure that Gabe knew more about the the death then he was letting Sam in on. And Sam was hating it. Gabe was a wonderful person and Sam really wished he they didn't end up in court against each other.

He'd already lost control of himself around Gabe but he had to keep his head cool now. He could easily be sitting with a cold hearted murderer. Sam couldn't let his personal emotions take over him.

"It's nice." He mustered up a smile to assure Gabe everything was fine, "I have one too. An anti possession one. Me and Dean got them on the spur of a moment too."

"Ooh. Never took you for a tattooed hunk." Gabe chuckled, visibly relaxed now.

"To be honest I'm not, but as you said, the spur of the moment." Sam chuckled too, hoping his nervousness wouldn't show, "Anyway. As I was saying, all these carvings imply occultist active. So I was wondering if you know anything, since you mingle among all sorts of groups."

In the end Sam did ask about organized cult activity because not mentioning it would've ticked Gabe off given how Sam had started the conversation but he kept the carving on Dorian's leg a secret. Luckily he'd only mentioned some of the main carvings anyway so there was no way for Gabe to know if they'd missed the carving or not. Sam really hoped Gabe hadn't realized anything yet. Gabe fell silent for a moment. He tried to remember if he'd ever heard of any kind of shady business going on.

"Nope." He said popping the P, "I've never heard of anything like that. Although I'd suggest you paid a visit to the local mechanic Bobby."

"Bobby as in the gay mechanic you told me about?"

"Yeah, though don't say that in front of him. He’s a blazing no-homo despite having lived with his boyfriend for the past seven years if I remember right. Although it's not him you'd actually need, it's his husband Crowley. Crowley is the one well informed about anything useless like this." Gabe grinned.


	9. Chapter 9

Despite feeling repulsed by Gabe Sam still stayed at the churchyard a little longer. After talking about the case Gabe began to pester Sam about the tattoo he had. After being pestered and flirted at by Gabe, Sam promised he'd show him it the day he'd crack the case. If Sam hadn't seen the tattoo on Gabe's ankle he would've actually done that. In fact he had had full intentions to get invited to Gabe's place no matter how bachelor and bohemian like it was. But now after finding out the possible connection to the murder and the fact that Gabe was hiding it Sam wasn't sure about anything anymore.

When the men finally parted their ways Sam decided to head for Bobby's garage. He knew it was stupid of him and he was placing himself into a great danger. But by now already two people had suggested him to go to meet Bobby and Crowley. Only thing Sam wasn't sure of was whether the cute young woman in the library was also a part of this murder or if he'd actually managed to throw Gabe off the hook. While in the churchyard Sam had felt that Gabe had figured out what he was actually thinking. At the moment chances were fifty fifty for Sam. Either going to meet Bobby and Crowley meant the end for him or he could actually get his hands on some solid leads.

Sam was also getting worried about Dean. He'd tried to call his brother so many times after leaving the churchyard. Each time it went to Dean's voicemail. It's not like Dean's never not answered his phone but at the moment Sam couldn't help it. Mr. Millers was acting all weird and Gabe might've just turned out to be the murderer.

For some reason the possibility of Gabe being the murderer didn't bother Sam as much as the the possibility that all this time Gabe had been making a fool of him, or at least lying to him. Maybe they hadn't really met that many times but they'd spent countless hours together. They'd talked about so many things. Gabe had even made him forget about Jess and Dorian. All those nicknames, flirty jokes and even the peck on the cheek were lies.

Sam wasn't a teenager anymore. He was well aware why he was feeling so upset about it. He'd fallen for Gabe. And all this time Gabe must've been more or less aware of his feelings, because if he hadn't been then why would he do all of those things. Why would he have been so excited to see Sam?

What if he'd felt anything at all for Sam too? Stopping for a while Sam tried to calm his nerves. When setting on his way to Bobby's garage he hadn't bothered to ask for directions. He remembered to have seen it when he and Dean had arrived to the town. To clear his head he decided to walk all the way from the church yard to there but now it was feeling like a bad idea. He'd just gone and gotten all of his thoughts jumbled all over again.

Sam wondered what it would be like to love a criminal. To be loved by a criminal? Sam wasn't the most innocent person either. He had his share of bad things in his past too but to fall in love with an actual criminal?

Taking the last turn Sam came to the street with Bobby's garage. Shaking the thoughts of Gabe he walked up to the yard of the garage. He had to keep Gabe out of his mind for now. He had a case to solve and he needed to focus on it. Besides no matter what his own feelings for Gabe were he needed to bring Dorian's killer to justice. If it was Gabe then there was nothing Sam could do about it. Mentally scolding himself Sam approached an old man who was cleaning a rusty oldish car.

"Excuse me, where can I find Mr. Bobby?"

The man stopped the cleaning to look up at Sam, "I'm Bobby. What do you want?" 

"Uh, I'm Winchester. Sam Winchester—"

"Oh. The other lad, Dean. He's a Winchester too. Ain't a name you'd hear here. You with him?" The man cut Sam short.

"Yes. Dean is here?"

"Yeah, he's here. Sniffing around about some kid's death. You're here for that too, aren't you?"

"Actually yes. I—"

"Come on in then." The man said turning towards a small house right in the middle of the large garage yard.

Sam followed the old man into the living room of the house where Dean was sitting with two other men.

"Crowley, we got one more here." Bobby huffed and went to sit next to a man clad in a stylish black suit.

"It's a moose now." The man leered at Sam and beckoned him to sit down on the only empty space left next to the other stranger, dressed into a ridiculous trench coat, who, given Dean's need for personal space, was sitting rather close to his brother.

Dean finally opened his mouth when Sam settled himself on the sofa.

"What're you doing here, Sammy?"

"Got a lead and they instructed me to come here."

"Oh. And who might've given you the instructions to come here?" Both Crowley and Bobby piped in.

"The young lady at the local library told me you might have some knowledge about the case." Sam said, keeping Gabe out of it for the moment.

"Oh, alright. I can understand. Unfortunately, I can't help. Cas, here brought your brother over to me to discuss about the case too. However, I have no idea about any of the symbols."

"But she said that you are well aware of all the occult activity in this town." Sam protested.

"I think you, my dear moose, heard it wrong. I am familiar with everything occult related but if I were to find every occultist in this town I'd never be able to do that because there are no such people in this town." Crowley said.

"But Crowley—" The man in the trench coat said only to be shushed down by Crowley's stare.

"I've already said it a few too many times. I have no knowledge of any occult activities in this town. You younglings may leave now. Shoo shoo."

Five minutes later Sam found himself, Dean and Cas outside on the yard again. The flamboyant man, Crowley, had literally shooed them all the way outside making sure they didn't get the chance to say a word.

"I'm sorry about that. Uncle Crowley is always like that but I thought that this once he'd actually help you since he's the one to come up with that script." The man in the trench coat, Cas, said to Dean and Sam.

"It'd be nice if he were a bit more cooperative but it's not uncommon for me and Dean to come across with people unwilling to work with us. This is after all a murder case." Sam said with a smile and extended his hand, "By the way I'm Sam Winchester, Dean's brother."

"I know. He talks a lot about you. I'm Castiel, Castiel Novak. Though everyone calls me Cas."


	10. Chapter 10

The moment Cas said his surname Sam felt like the world around him had frozen. Even though it wasn't a proper evidence. Castiel's existence still was an evidence of sorts. But what was it proving? The gravestone, the name on it had been Castiel Novak. Was it some sort of prank or a hideout? Was the whole older part of the churchyard some sort of hidden lair for the supposed cult? Or was he overthinking again?

"Wait, you said your name is Castiel Novak?" Sam asked, barely managing to whisper. He was starting to feel sick. All this time Gabe hadn't been only making a fool out of him but also using him as an alibi in case any of Sam's biggest fears at the moment were to come true.

"Yes. I'm Castiel Novak. The son of—"

"Dean, I just remembered something very important. I'm sorry Cas but we need to leave right now. See you later!" Sam dragged Dean away from Castiel, who remained in his place staring at the brothers in confusion.

Sam let go of Dean only once he was sure his brother was sitting securely in the Impala. Even though Dean went on grumbling about the suddenness of everything Sam kept his cool. He had to think things through before talking to Dean. He'd already become quite a hindrance for their case with his inability to work on the symbols himself. If he was going to break the news of being the alibi to the possible murderer Dean was surely going to get mad at him.

When Sam insistently stayed silent Dean stopped nagging him and obediently drove to the motel and followed his younger brother to their motel room. But once they were in Sam couldn't dodge Dean's questions anymore.

"Sammy, what the fuck was that?" Dean shouted.

"Dean, calm down. I can explain it. Just listen to me,"

"What's so important that you couldn't say it even when I was driving?"

"Cas. He's been in the Impala, hasn't he?"

"Of course he's been there. I drove us to the garage. What are you trying to say?"

"Just hoping that he hasn't bugged your Baby. Dean, I think Castiel might have more to do with the murder than you thought. How did you even meet him?"

"I met him on one of my failed attempts to go to the older churchyard. Why?"

"I knew it!" Sam ran his hand through his hair. His fears had come true.

"Sam what's going on?" Dean began to look worried.

"Remember when you left the churchyard after Dorian's funeral? After you left I stayed there for a little longer and I met this man there."

Sam told Dean everything about Gabe except the part where he fell in love with Gabe. He told Dean everything about Gabe always being at the churchyard no matter what time Sam went there. He told everything about the differing scripts on the gravestones and Cas's name on one of the gravestones as Dean carefully listened to him.

Once Sam was done talking Dean repeated everything to make sure he'd understood what Sam had tried to explain to him. Then the brothers came up with a plan to act upon next.


	11. Chapter 11

Sam pulled the sleeves of his jacket to keep his hands warm. The autumn was slowly getting chillier and chillier. He kept his guard up as he walked the familiar path to the older churchyard. He slowly made his way to the gravestone.

Sitting as comfortably as one could sit on a cold gravestone, Sam began to wait. Although his mind was laughing at the probability of Gabe being at the churchyard at that time his heart knew better. The hunch that Gabe was going to arrive soon was growing stronger and stronger.

To kill time and keep his nerves from getting even more wrecked he began to browse on his phone. As he was reading an interesting article about wolves a pair of hands clamped over his eyes.

"Guess who?" A low, grumbling voice whispered into Sam's ear.

"Gabe?"

"Come on! You were supposed to mistake me for Loki the god of mischief." Gabe said with a childish pout.

For a moment Sam was swept off of his feet by the cute pout just the way he'd been all of the times they'd met before. Luckily, he quickly snapped out of it.

"Mm. Let me think. If you hadn't practically lived here I might've mixed you up with the trickster god." Sam said with a smile.

"Okay, that's fair. But I don't live here. I do go home for a bath and food and to have wonderful dreams of a wonderful man." Gabe said with a smirk.

"That explains your presence here?"

"Ah, now? Actually I was walking my dog when I spotted you coming here. Of course I couldn't let such a romantic chance to spend a night here under the starry sky with you slip from my grip. So I left the little bugger home and came here asap."

Sam felt an invisible force tighten its grip around his heart. Oh, how he wished Gabe's words were true. However, whether they were or not would be confirmed soon. Sam was glad the grave with Castiel's name was out of the sight from the spot they were at. He just hoped Dean could get the job done soon and send him the signal.

 

"So how come you're here tonight?" Gabe settled next to him.

The question, well, it shouldn't have, but it did catch him off guard. Why was he there? To help Dean with their little investigation, of course. But for some reason Sam was suddenly feeling overwhelmed. As Gabe waited for him to respond with the twinkly eyes and the snarky grin Sam realized that in case Dean found anything that night then this might be very well the last time he was going to be able to see Gabe like this.

"Actually, the case is just lagging so much. I'd like it to be over, it's taking a toll on me."

Usually even the most morose expression and the most desolate of his sighs made Gabe turn into a joker and playfully coax out all the weariness from him but today he surprised Sam once again. Out of the blue Gabe was embracing Sam.

"I'm so sorry to hear that." He said resting his head on Sam's shoulder.

"No need to be. Comes with the job." Sam in his turn rested his head on Gabe's.

"Just because it comes with the job doesn't make it ok."

"No, it doesn't, but you get used to it."

"But it still gets too much sometimes. Did it start with Jess? I mean did you get into this job after Jess?"

It hadn't taken long for Sam to tell Gabe about Jess. On their second meeting somehow they'd ended up talking about Van Gogh and soon Gabe was telling him about some shady friend of his who's love for art cost him quite a lot. Sam on the other hand had ended up gushing about how Jess always ended up gushing about her favourite pieces of art on their from-evening-to-night picnics. It had happened after the kissing incident with the boys hiding in the bushes, while the boys had been admiring the forbidden surroundings. After that Sam had felt very embarrassed, given the kiss from Gabe and a confirming blush from Sam, but Gabe being the actual knight among the two of them simply brushed it off.

"Not really. The private detective business came from my mom's side. They'd been doing it for a long time, in fact the kids were being born in her family for this sole purpose. After her death dad took it up. I actually had to rebel against him to get out of it so I could go to college but after Jess—" Sam trailed off.

Gabe knew the story from there besides if this was the last time they were going to talk together then Sam wanted it to be about anything else but his morose past. To be precise he wanted to know more about Gabe before this case would taint all of the knowledge that he had of the shorter man.

"—Anyway, what about you? Why'd you run away from home?" Sam asked.

"Trying to change the subject Samshine?" Gabe murmured against his shoulder.

"Not really. Just trying to take my mind off of it."

"For me it was the same old. Couldn't stand my family so one day I just packed my bag and got out of home to run some errands and the run turned into a never ending marathon."

Sam chuckled at Gabe's choice of words. "May I ask, why you hated them?"

"You're wrong Sammich, I never hated them. I just couldn't stand them. You know, I'm more of a hermit, an introvert, ah reh-cli-u-sé." Gabe wailed dramatically.

"Stop using those words wrong besides you're no recluse, trickster." Sam laughed.

The two of them kept bantering like that for a while, making Sam forget all about keeping an eye on his phone. Gabe had also managed to make him get distracted from all of the gloomier subjects they had come up with earlier.

"You should have seen Dean's face that moment!" Sam exclaimed trying to suppress his own giggles so he could finish the story.

"You did that?!" Gabe asked, his expression somewhere between amazed and amused.

"Yeah, well I had had enough of his pranks. He's a grown man now so he'd better either stop or step up the game a little."

"Like you did?" Gabe asked with a teasing lift if is eyebrow.

Sam blushed, "Like I did."

"In that case I think I'd love to declare a prank war on you. Just make sure to replace the stranger with yourself, because walking in on you..."

Gabe raised his head to look into Sam's eyes. Suddenly everything fell as silent as it had been before Gabe's arrival. Only thing audible to Sam was the beat of his own heart and all he could see for a moment was the dark glint of Gabe's eyes.

It was strange to see Gabe being quiet and serious. A part of Sam was suddenly feeling scared. It felt like already emotionally so intense man had gained six times more intensity to himself.

A sudden yell from a little further broke the stillness in which both men had been captured. Both Sam and Gabe turned to look into the darkness in front of them. Two voices were arguing. Sam recognized one of them as Dean's.

Gabe had perked up too, "Bobby?" He said into the darkness.

Sam was shocked. If this Bobby was the Bobby then this had to be a trap. Somehow Bobby and Crowley had managed to find out about Sam and Dean's plans.

"I've told you to be careful with these snoops, haven't I?" Bobby huffed as he pushed Dean forward. "He was trying to dig open Cas' grave."

Before Sam could do anything recognition flashed through Bobby's eyes. He pointed the flashlight he'd been holding at Gabe and Sam.

"Aren't you the younger Winchester? What are you two doing here? Gabe, what's going on?" The older man asked grumpily.

"Younger Winchester? You two? Is that Dean?" Gabe asked everyone yet particularly no one, his eyes fixed on the shovel Dean was holding. He turned to look at Sam. "I think I should've expected this."

It was evident that Gabe felt hurt. But Sam couldn't tell why. If they were the murdering occultists Sam had been looking for then this should've angered them or made them feel joyous for managing to trick two detectives. Instead one of them looked grumpy and the other looked hurt. Sam was still trying to process everything when Bobby spoke up as if sensing Sam's intentions of trying to speak at all.

"Lets got to the garage, we can talk there."


	12. Chapter 12

"What were you exactly trying to do?" Crowley shouted at the tied down brothers.

Initially they'd been sitting comfortably on the couch but then Dean had to try to use the shovel to get out of the house. Gabe had been the one to tie them down. Neither Gabe nor Sam were looking at one another.

Dean took the lead, "We were trying to expose your crimes."

"And what crime are we talking about here?" Crowley asked irritatedly.

"Don't you pretend to not know. You and your boyfriend were the ones to kill Dorian. We've got proof of it."

"Kill? Dorian?" Crowley asked incredulously.

"Yeah now you're playing the no-idea-card. But tell you what, it's not gonna work on me. You four," Dean turned to look at Castiel, "killed an innocent boy for who knows what reason. The boy bled to death, you'd tortured the poor thing. If you think I'll just let it slide then you're wrong. You four will be walking free only over my dead body."

"And what exactly makes you think that we were behind the killings?" Crowley asked, however, he didn't sound as outraged anymore as he'd been only a moment ago.

"Well, why don't you ask that midget over there?" Dean nodded towards Gabe who was standing next to Castiel, avoiding any and all eye contact with Sam.

"Gabriel, care to explain what I should ask from you?" Crowley asked Gabe without turning to look at the latter.

Gabe finally turned to look at Sam as he answered to Crowley, "I've got no idea, if anyone here needs to be asked any questions then it's Sam."

Once again Crowley grew more frustrated. "I don't care who needs to be asked and who doesn't. All I care about is the answers. And I want them now. Stop this blaming game and answer me right now!" He shouted.

Before Dean could ruin the situation Sam took the lead. There was no other option left anyway. Even though the brothers weren't getting tortured as they'd been in some of their rowdiest cases, they weren't set free either. And so, Sam told everything from the beginning, as in receiving the case, to the end, as in seeing the tattoo on Gabe's ankle.

About half an hour later the brothers were sitting on the couch again, however, they were still strictly guarded by the four men. 

"Fine, I see where the confusion comes from. But I can assure you lads that I, my partner or my nephews have nothing to do with this case. The tattoo and the carving being similar is a mere coincidence. Or an attempt to frame Gabe."

"How do you explain his continuous presence in the churchyard?" Dean asked the question Sam wanted an answer to.

"That, is none of your business", Crowley shouted more with his fist than his mouth.

"It sure i—"

"Stop it you both," Gabe finally butted in.

"Indeed," Bobby chimed in as well, "It makes sense that the boys are suspecting us. It's not like they'll find anything anyway. So as long as they leave the graves we should let them be."

"But!"

"No, uncle Crowley. Bobby's right. As long as they leave the churchyard be we shouldn't bother them either. Besides whoever killed Dorian is still on the loose. We should help the brothers rather than let tonight get in the way."

"Fine. As long as they leave you two alone." Crowley reluctantly gave in.

Sam didn't want to do this, but he was sure that the graves had some to do with this whole mess. He had to somehow get his hands on the graves.

"We want to check the graves too," he said.

Sam felt bad for pushing his limits this way, more so because it was Gabe he was dealing with. This was the man who'd trusted him enough to cry on his shoulder on their second meeting. 

Gabe finally turned to look at him. Sam tried to search his face for any kind of emotions, he found none. Gabe simply turned back at Crowley.

"I think we should just tell them." Gabe told him.

"Are you nuts?! What do you mean 'just tell them'? What's gotten into you two. First Castiel dragged this insolent little piece of shit with him here and now you're ready to tell them?"

"Tell what?" Dean perked up again, "Cas did you bring me here to tell me something? Was it about the case?"

A fist flew. Crowley had punched Dean again. Sam nudged his brother as hard as he could. The men were ready to tell something and Dean was causing more harm than good.

"Uncle Crowley, stop it!" Gabe said.

"Look at you! Telling me to stop. You want to tell them. Are they even worth it? Are you two even sure it's them?"

"Cassie doesn't even realize the state he's in but I am." Gabe said standing firmly next to Sam now, as if to protect him from Crowley's next punch.

"Out of every damn person on earth you had to choose someone like him?"

"Crowley," Bobby butted in, "I think you should calm down. If they are the ones our boys chose don't you think we should let it be. After all even we..."

"Yes, but—" Crowley tried to protest.

"But what?"

"Fine, but you can be the storyteller."

Reluctantly Crowley nodded his head at Castiel and stepped aside. In two swift strides Castiel was standing next to the brothers who were almost immediately stretching their already tired muscles.

"So, you were about to tell us something?" Sam looked at Bobby expecting at best for some sort on confession of being part of everything, although he was still having a hard time figuring what they'd exactly meant with 'choosing' the brothers and what Bobby had implied when he'd said 'even we'.

"Well, you youngsters are going to stare at me as if I were a madman, but apart from me everyone here is a ghost." Bobby blurted as of it was the most normal thing to ever say.

Sam kept staring intently at Bobby hoping for something better to come out of his mouth. However, he said nothing.

"We really need to get out of here," Dean muttered to Sam, "These folks are complete nuts and we'll be the next ones to be butchered if we don't run for it now."

"No, you won't." It was Gabe. He'd managed to hear Dean. "You will listen to what we have to say and then do whatever you want. Crowley, you do it."

"Yes, I think Bobby's way of telling the truth was inadequate," Castiel said.

Crowley rolled his eyes, there was no way out of this situation. "Fine."


	13. Chapter 13

"This town has been around for a very long time, over a hundred years, maybe even more," Crowley said as he dragged a chair over to sit in.

"It doesn't really have much of a historical value because whatever remains from the older days are the older churchyard and the huge mansion near the churchyard. The Novak family used to reside in it. They had come to this town sometime during the mid 1700s."

"Novak? As in Castiel Novak?" Dean interrupted.

"Yes, Castiel is one of the two remaining members of the main Novak family. I got into the family through my mother's marriage into the family. In relation I'm Castiel's uncle."

"What about the other remaining member?" Sam asked.

"That would be Gabriel Novak, Gabe, the bohemian of the Novak family."

Sam instinctively turned to look at the Gabe and to his surprise Gabe was glaring daggers at Crowley. Sam was surprised at his own inability to see the connection himself. Gabe had called Crowley uncle and ever since coming here no one had really treated him like a stranger.

"What? You were the one who told me to tell them. And excluding you wouldn't really keep the story accurate, would it?" Crowley huffed as Gabe kept glaring daggers at him.

Finally Gabe calmed down a little and instead turned to look at Sam. For a moment it seemed like he was trying to search for any kind of sign of Sam's emotions on his face just the way Sam was looking for them in Gabe's.

“The local legend you know of stems from this very family. The first Novak who’d come here was Chuck. Chuck Novak. After coming here he settled down and obviously started his family. If you've paid any attention during your history lessons you might be aware that back then families were quite big, especially the religious ones.”

“After the birth of his youngest son Chuck went missing. Neither him nor his corpse was ever found so no one really knows whatever became of him. However, his wife, Naomi, was left with a big bunch of children. As you can imagine a religious woman of that day couldn't really do anything else but be bitter and spread that bitterness in her children.” Crowley said, Sam noticed, with a sad shake of his head.

“The boys had been quite young when Chuck went missing, or left them, as Naomi claimed. The oldest of them had been around sixteen or seventeen if I remember correctly. After that Naomi became very strict and even more religious. While the oldest two sons complied to their mother, the younger three were rebels. Their only daughter ran away with the stable boy as soon as she came of age.” Crowley chuckled.

Uncooperative witnesses or perpetrators were bad but those who actually, opened up only to suddenly shun were even worse. So while Dean intently listened to Crowley’s story, careful not to interrupt the talking man on a wrong moment, in case he'd entirely stop talking, Sam observed the way Crowley told the story. All of his gestures and expressions made it feel as if he personally knew the characters of the story, as if he wasn't telling them a story but instead he was recounting old memories.

“After Anna ran away, Naomi started to lay down all sorts of ridiculous rules. No one else may leave the town, every meal will be eaten together, everyone shall be buried in the older churchyard and so on.

There it was again. At first Crowley had just said ‘their only daughter’ but then the daughter became Anna. The more Crowley told the more it felt like Crowley had witnessed everything. The sense of danger began to tingle in the back of Sam's head. Since Dean wasn't being the usual prick he is Sam decided to do it for both of them.

“But how is this relevant at all. All that happened almost two hundred years ago but we have a case to solve now.” Sam asked.

“I was just getting there.”

“Shut up Sammy, he said he's getting there.” Next to him, Dean hissed.

“Dean! Don't tell me you're actually enjoying this bedtime story?” Sam chided his older brother.

“Sam, calm down. As uncle Crowley said, we're getting there,” Gabe told him. Still rooted to the spot where he'd been standing all along. However, he wasn't looking at Sam. Sam noticed how panic stricken Gabe looked.

Sam turned to look at Castiel who looked somewhat uncomfortable as well. He wondered what on earth was eliciting such emotions out of the three men. Only ones unmoved by the story were Sam, Dean and Bobby. But it seemed like Bobby was well aware of the direction this story was going to take. Even more confused than before Sam turned back towards Crowley, who flashed an understanding smile, only confusing Sam further and then continued the story.

“The biggest shock Naomi received, and the reason everything went south, however, wasn't Anna. Back in those days it was much more common than you'd believe, for girls to run away to marry the man of their choice. The biggest shock Naomi received was from the remaining two children, the two younger sons.”

“What'd they do? Run away with the maids?” Dean asked.

“The younger of them fell in love with the family tailor and the older fell in love with the butler of the household,” Crowley said without a flinch.

“What difference was there? I mean Anna married a poor dude too. So what's the big deal with poor girls?” Dean looked confused to the point where Sam thought that he must've sinned very bad in his past life which is why he had this thick headed jerk as a brother.

“You mean they were gay?” Sam cleared it up for his thick headed brother.

“Yes,” Crowley said, “The older son was the first one to get caught. Naomi’s patience reached its limit. She decided to get the boy married but of course Gabriel was having none of it.”

Sam’s head shot up again. So did Dean’s. They both were looking at Gabe who was still standing next to Castiel with the pained expression. Crowley kept telling the story as if the sudden jerky movement of two heads shooting up had never happened.

“He planned to run away with his lover. The two brothers had always gotten along with each other better than with the other three siblings. So when Gabriel told Castiel he was going to run away Castiel revealed about his relationship with the family tailor and asked Gabriel to let them join too.”

The Winchester brothers heads jerked up again. This time all of their attention was directed towards Castiel. Before any of the brothers could say anything Crowley resumed as if once again nothing had happened.

“Unfortunately, somehow Naomi found out about the boys, their gentlemen partners, and their plan to run away from home. She pulled the last minute trick.”

“The last minute trick?” Sam turned back to Crowley.

“Instead of taking action immediately she waited till the night came. First one she got killed was the poor butler boy. She was cruel enough to leave him to bleed to his death in the older churchyard where the boys were supposed to meet. When Castiel and Gabriel got there it was too late to do anything, the butler had bled to the point of no coming back. He threw his life away in Gabriel’s arms.”

Hearing the last line made Sam feel sick. Suddenly the image of Dorian bleeding to his death flashed through his mind. As if sensing Sam’s discomfort Crowley stopped for a moment before he went on.

“Seeing the butler Gabriel realized that Castiel’s lover was in danger too. He convinced Castiel to let Gabriel deal with the dying man on his own and rush to save his lover. However, Castiel too, was late. He attempted to protect his lover’s body as well but the men sent by Naomi were having none of it. They beat Castiel to near death. Still the boy was determined enough to drag himself and the body of his lover all the way here only to die. Back then a tiny abandoned hut used to be here instead of this house. Which explains why Gabriel can be seen only in the older churchyard on any given moment, while Castiel can be seen at night here or the old house, where the tailor used to live, and where Castiel stays now. They are bound to the places of their deaths.” 

“Wait, wait, wait.” Dean spoke up, “Are we supposed to believe that bullshit?”

“It's not bullshit. It's the answer to your question about Gabriel’s continuous presence in the churchyard.”

“So, you're telling us, that Gabe and Castiel, at least the ones me and Dean know are the ones who died sometime in 1800s?” Sam asked.

He had no idea what to make of the current situation. Either the four other men present in the room with him and Dean had completely lost it or they were making fun of the Winchester brothers before actually attacking. Or in the worst case they were stalling time for the murderer.

“Yes, I'm telling you exactly that.” Crowley huffed.

“The hell do you think we are? A couple of small town morons who'd believe any shit you spout outta your mouth?”

“Dean's right. We're not as stupid as you think.” Sam turned to look at Gabe, hurt evident in his face. He'd trusted the shorter man and gone through all of the night's events without putting up a fight and this silly bedtime story was all he got.

“Listen, we gave you a chance,” Sam turned towards Gabe, “But you couldn't do it the easy way, could you?”

“We did it the easy way,” Gabe said and began to approach Sam, “And, no, we don't think that you two are stupid. In fact in my opinion you guys are too smart for your own good.” He smiled as if he’d seen this happening many times before and was used to such scenario.

Gabe bent down a little so he could be face to face with Sam. “Look at the clock,” he said with a nod of his head towards the clock. 

In any other case he wouldn't have done it. There was a far too great risk of being attacked, specially from such close distance. But, somehow, around Gabe all of his worries washed away. It was as if Gabe sent some sort of vibes towards him and they weren't the bad type. They made Sam want to trust Gabe more and more. Still, given the earlier lies Sam was wary of Gabe’s position compared to him when he turned to look at the clock. A quick glance at the clock told it was three in the morning. Sam turned back to look at Gabe.

“Now look into my eyes count to five and then blink,” Gabe said as he took a hold of Sam’s hands.

Sam did as he was told.

“Now look back at the clock.”

Sam did as he was told. To his surprise the clock was showing five in the morning now.

“How did you do that?” Sam asked. He turned to Dean hoping his brother had caught the trick or had any kind of explanation.

Unfortunately, Dean was as shell shocked as Sam was. He'd seen it all with his eyes. Sam counting to five and then blinking, the time had passed normally, yet somehow two hours had passed. It might've been some sort of a trick, however, all of the clocks, even the one in his phone showed the same time.

“This is a trick. Sammy, we've been here long enough. Either you guys give up now and spill the beans or we'll have to drag you guys down to the police station for inspection.” Dean snapped after the initial shock.

Sam didn't hear what his brother was saying. Suddenly the timelapses he went through when he was with Gabe made sense. He always thought that he'd merely forgotten everything they'd talked about because he was busy admiring the shorter man but in reality only Gabe could tell how much time he had spent at the churchyard staring at Gabe and how much he had spent of that time actually talking with Gabe. Without letting go of Gabe’s hands he asked.

“Can you keep me talking to you when I'm in the time bubble or wrap, whatever this thing right here was?”

“Yeah, I can,” Gabe said, his face blushing a little and not because he felt shy.

“Have you kept me talking whenever you did it before?”

“Yes.” Gabe looked away unable to face whatever was about to come.

Dean stopped Gabe from answering, “Sammy, what the hell? Are you serious? First off you let them play these dirty tricks on you and then you actually believe this supernatural bullshit?!”

Sam ignored his brother. “And what exactly have I told you?” 

“Not much. I can keep you talking, but I can't make you talk. So in the end you'll just end up talking about whatever is on your mind.” Gabe dared to take a quick glance of the taller man towering over him.

Sam was curious about the things he might have said but now he had other priorities. They had a killer to catch.

“I'm going to trust you blindly on this but you have to help us crack this case. It doesn't matter whether there's going to be another murder or not. Dorian deserves peace. You must know what having someone die in your arms is like. You know I've been through it. I'm not forgiving you, but I'm hoping you'll understand the value of this chance I'm giving you.” Sam said, still holding Gabe’s hands.

Sam knew he sounded like an idiot. He didn't need Dean to tell that to him, thus he went on ignoring his brother. He waited for Gabe’s response, aware of the fact that Gabe might be actually fooling him, or if the time trick was real then he might use it again to Sam’s disadvantage. Gabe seemed reluctant. They were still awkwardly holding each other’s hands. Slowly Sam became more and more aware of how stupid everything was and how the events of the night were had the potential to ruin everything they had worked on.

“I will help you.”

Sam felt a tide of relief wash over him. He wasn't ready to let go of his skepticism yet, but he was a step closer to truly trust his instincts and Gabe’s proof to be real.

“Fine. Let's get working then.”

“Wait, what? Sammy, what the hell is wrong with you. Are you seriously telling me that you're going to take his little trick for serious?!”

“Dean —”

“Let me handle this. Cassie you show him, we've got a case to solve.” Gabe intervened before Sam had to even try to shift his attention back to his brother.

Suddenly the heavy feeling drowning the room was gone and Gabe, who'd been more of an audience up until now, was enthusiastically pushing Dean away so he could sit next to Sam. It felt like nothing had ever happened. As if they'd been talking all the time in the churchyard and somehow ended up walking all the way to the garage. Suddenly a realization struck Sam.

“Umm, if you can be seen only near the churchyard how can you be here with us now?”

“I'm powerful enough to pull a lot of things off, however, it does tend to drain me, since I'm bound to the churchyard.” Gabe answered as if Sam had asked him the silliest question ever. “Sam, I know you're suspicious of me and you have many reasons to be, however, we have other priorities now. You were rambling something about my tattoo.”

Denying that he was overwhelmed would've been a blunt and obvious lie. There were so many things Sam wanted to find out, but on the other hand Gabe was right, there was a murderer running free. And Sam needed to make sure that the monster saw his way to hell.

“Fine.”

Just as Sam was about to decide on what to do next Dean ran back from the depths of the house, where he'd been dragged by Castiel when Sam wasn't paying attention (or Gabe most probably had played another illusion trick on him), screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Sammy we need to get the hell out! He’s fucking rotting away!” 

 

“I thought your brother was supposed to be more mature and braver?” Gabe quirked his eyebrows as Sam tried to figure out what was actually going on.


	14. Chapter 14

“So what leads do you have?”

“Only the tattoo of yours.”

“Okay, that sounds bad.”

“Well, we have also some suspicions about Mr. Millers’ innocence. He has been rather blunt with his suspicious behaviour.”

After the initial shock Dean had gotten over his skepticism and fear too. He'd set out with Bobby and Castiel to the main crime scene. While Gabe had the power of making time flow the way he wanted it to, or rather make people perceive time as he wanted them to, Castiel’s specialty lay in seeing the past to some extent. Meanwhile Sam, Gabe and Crowley stayed behind to figure out the connection between the tattoo on his ankle and the carving on Dorian’s ankle. Sam had told Gabe and Crowley about the dream he'd seen.

“Nah, I think it's because you were so obsessed with me.” Gabe shrugged his shoulders.

Sam blushed, “Yes, it could be so.”

Now that he knew the supposed truth he felt the ridiculous hopes raise in his heart again. He did know better, but he couldn't help his heart.

“Could you stop mooning over my nephew and focus on telling us more?” Crowley hissed.

“Uh, yeah right. So there's the tattoo and well…” Sam knew there had to be something else too but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly. He knew something else had happened too. “I'm sure there was something else too, I just can't remember what.” Sam ran his fingers through his hair. They'd ended up staying awake all night and everything still jumbling up his mind wasn't helping him focus at all.

Sam tried to think back to everything that had happened. He began to trace his steps back to the very beginning. They'd been caught by Gabe and his uncle. Before that he'd been shooed away by Crowley. He'd ended up meeting Crowley because Gabe had suggested it. And he'd ended up talking to Gabe because of that dream. He'd dreamed in the first place because of…

… The boy.

“I remember!” 

“Yeah?”

“The boy! Gabe do you remember the day we…” Sam blushed again, “We ended up having to tolerate that group of boys?”

The smirk on Gabe's face was more than enough to make Crowley roll his eyes. “Yeah, I do. How could I ever forget that day? Which boy?”

“Do you remember that little boy, the only one who didn't ask us any questions?” 

“You mean the little grumpy boy who was glaring daggers at me?” 

“Yeah, that one.”

Sam proceeded to tell Gabe and Crowley about the things that had happened that day after Sam had shepherded the boys out of the churchyard. While telling Sam wished he had paid more attention to the boy that day. Now he realized there wasn't really much to tell and he hadn't picked up any smaller oddities that might help him.

“So there's some random kid who thinks that I killed his brother because I didn't stay dead?” Gabe said, sounding more confused than offended.

“Apparently yes.”

“Gabriel have you kissed anyone before Dorian’s death? Don't tell me you kissed Dorian himself.”

While Crowley’s question had surprised Sam, Gabriel looked unfazed.

“No, I haven't. The hell do you think I am? A child molester? I've got no idea what going on with Dorian or his brother.” He said without hesitation.

No, I haven't. Sam felt his insides drop. The kiss on the cheek and all the flirting they'd ever done was dismissed so easily by that statement. He'd never thought he'd actually feel so bad about it. However, Crowley asked about the time before Dorian’s death. Sam calmed his nerves and focused on the conversation.

“Well, by the looks on Sam’s face it seems like you didn't quite hold yourself back Gabriel. What day did you choose?”

“I already told you I did not kiss him, there's no chosen date. Besides it would've been after Dorian’s death. And it was just a peck on the cheek.” Gabe said, but this time he wasn't as dismissive as he'd been earlier. His wary eyes followed Sam's face while Sam tried to act like a man his age should. They'd been fooling around, simply flirting and talking. Sam wasn't sure what he might've done during the time lapses or what Gabe might've done during those, but getting sad over one ‘just a peck on the cheek’ wasn't something a man his age should be doing.

Crowley looked first at Gabe then he looked at Sam, lastly turning his gaze back to Gabe. “You might not be a mind reader but I am and I'd like to get this issue out of the way before we deal with the murder. Besides I'm fucking sleepy. Gabriel, deal with your love issues and get some sleep before you dare to wake me up.”

With that Crowley stood up and left the younger men to sort things out between themselves. After a distant click from somewhere in the house reached Gabe’s ears he shifted his attention to Sam who was barely hiding the expectant and slightly betrayed expression.

“I guess, me shrugging the kiss off as a peck on the cheek upset you?” Gabe, without wasting more time, got straight to the point.

Sam wanted to lie but then again if Crowley had given them the time he'd rather use it now. Sam hadn't cleared Gabe of all the suspicions, so while they still had time Sam wanted to clear things up. Maybe Dean could live his life in denial but Sam could not. He wanted to know where he was now and which direction he should go after everything was over.

“Uh, yeah.”

“I guess, I'm sorry for it. The kiss meant more to me than what I made it seem like.”

Suddenly, Sam felt anger bubbling up in him. After everything Gabe was just sorry. Only sorry. Sam felt like punching the man right in the middle of his face. With a little bit of difficulty Sam managed to control himself.

“Let me be a little bit more clear,” Sam said, “I have no idea how far we've gone in those time lapses you've made me go through, but I know it deserves more than a shrug of shoulders. So all you have to do now is tell me whether you deserve a punch in your face or a kick in your crotch.”

Gabe stared at Sam as if he was the one seeing a ghost. “That was, I mean I think I might have some serious kink issues.” He said.

Sam’s expression turned sour, “Gabe, you know very well that's not what I meant.”

“Yes, I know. Sam, it's complicated. You can ask Crowley once he's slept enough.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. He wasn't having none of it. He'd nearly kissed Gabe not Crowley. He wanted Gabe to deal with it. When Sam remained silent Gabe gave up.

“Fine! But it'll take time so if you don't get your beauty sleep don't blame me.”

“Trust me, you're the only one who's going to get blamed for anything here.” Sam said, still angry at Gabe.


	15. Chapter 15

“So, nothing really happened during the time lapses! As I said I can't make you do anything but talk your heart out. All you've ever done is tell me about Jess, whine about Dean and complimented me for hours.” Gabe said.

Sam couldn't believe how neutral Gabe could be with the idea that someone unknowingly went on blabbering for hours about such stupid things. He couldn't even be upset with Gabe for letting him talk about Jess.

“And you actually listened to all of it?”

“Well, who doesn't like to listen someone else compliment them.” Gabe said with a smirk.

“But why didn't I ever notice it more? I mean sure I noticed the sunsets and everything but still”

“Because of your wariness. The time flow works only when you're looking me into the eyes. However, I think because of your profession, your wary all the time thus even if I could lock your eyes to mine each time our eyes met, I couldn't keep them locked for too long.”

“Oh-kay?”

“Listen, Sam, I like you too, but anything between a human and ghosts is hard. And I like to listen to you. In fact just like for the first time in years you hadn't thought much about Jess, even I had stopped thinking about him.”

Sam realized Gabe was talking about the butler. Apparently Gabe had forgotten everyone's names. In fact only reason he remembered his own full name was the gravestone that Crowley added only long after everything because he hadn't had same efficient means of gaining power that Gabe and Castiel had.

“Fine, I believe you. But what did Crowley mean when he asked whether you'd chosen a date? A date for what?”

“I—” The sudden sound of the door opening and thudding footsteps interrupted their conversation.

 

Dean and Castiel barged into the room. Castiel looked as stoic and as matter-of-fact as ever while it seemed like Dean still hadn't gotten over the revelation.

“His eyes shine like magic crystals!” Was the first thing Dean said after seeing Sam.

“Yes, Dean. Thank you very much for making it clear for the thousandth time,” Castiel huffed in annoyance, “Anyway, Gabe, Sam, we found out the culprit but not the reasons.”

Both Gabe and Sam’s interest was piqued. In unison they said, “You did? Who?”

After an ominous pause Castiel spoke up, “His father, Mr. Millers.”

“What?!” Sam was shocked. He'd been suspicious of Mr. Millers all along but still hearing it out loud, all confirmed, was a huge blow. Sam’s own father hadn't been the best father either, but this man was a monster.

“You know why?” Gabe asked in a voice Sam had never heard before. When he turned to look at the shorter man he saw anger obscuring Gabe’s usually jolly face.

“No. But he said something about ghosts. I think he meant us. But I don't see how we could be related to Dorian in any way.”

“Do you know where we can find him?” Gabe asked Sam and Dean.

While Gabe’s anger had rendered Sam silent, it seemed to have a sobering effect on Dean.

“We don't know. That sly guy has been avoiding us since the funeral. That's why we dug deeper into this case ourselves instead of leaving it to the cops. After all we were here for whole another case.”

“Well, as long as he doesn't get out of this town, tracking him down is no biggie.” Gabe said and if Sam had heard right, his voice seemed to grumble like an avalanche.

“You've got some magic trick?” Dean asked.

“No, but since he seems to know us I have a plan.”

“A plan?” The three others asked.

 

Soon Gabe was done explaining how Castiel could track down Mr. Millers with his power of tracking memories by a person's presence and vice versa. All he'd need is to go back to the warehouse and get another look of some of the bloodstained things left behind when the police had cleared up the pace for evidence. Once Mr. Millers would be tracked down Gabe would be the one to get the truth out of the man. Only thing Sam and Dean needed to do is make sure that the police came to the spot as silently as possible. All they needed was for Mr. Millers to confess right on the spot with the help of Gabe’s power. It wouldn't even matter whether Mr. Millers remembers confessing or not because after confessing things himself right in front of the police his confusion would be put down as an act to escape.

The plan was easier said than done.

Sam had suggested that they go immediately since it was already morning. Gabe and Dean would've been fine with it but Castiel said that his power requires time. Specially since they have to corner Mr. Millers to a place where they can be sure he won't escape. Instead of all of them springing to action he suggested that the brothers get some sleep while Gabe made his plan known to Bobby and Crowley.

It took Castiel almost an hour to just pinpoint where Mr. Millers was. Apparently the man was avoiding going to his house, however, something about his choice of place to go instead gave off a feeling that he wasn't only avoiding the brothers. After a few more hours of following the man around they finally managed to corner him, surprisingly, in the churchyard. Then again, the Novak brothers shouldn't have been surprised, after all, he had already somehow included them into this case. It made more than enough sense that he'd come sooner or later to the churchyard.

Unlike the brothers, who'd after following the unsuspecting man for hours knew more than enough about him, Mr. Millers wasn't aware of the strength of the brothers’ powers. Or specifically Gabe’s. Castiel’s power allowed him to roam around freely to some extent around the town but for the cost of the power strength. Gabe, on the other hand, was bound to the churchyard, able to go to Bobby’s garage only because Crowley was strong enough to cast spells. But his power was strong. He'd lied to Sam to keep the man from freaking out, but there were more things, apart from controlling the flow of time, that Gabe could do.

First of all he made sure that the invisible walls blocked any kind of attempt to exit the place. People would only be able to enter the churchyard. And since no one came to the older part unless to chase people out, there was no reason to worry. Castiel would keep out an eye for the chasers.

As Gabe finished his phone call to Crowley, he let the spells slowly fade allowing Mr. Millers to realize that someone was following him. However, Mr. Millers wasn't as surprised as Gabe had hoped he'd be. It meant that they didn't have the advantage of having an upper hand on him.

“You are the ghost?” He asked.

“Do I look like one?” Gabe flashed a mischievous smile, pretending to be surprised and amused by the question.

“Are you the ghost or not?” Mr. Millers asked, now more serious.

“What if I am? Why?”

What happened next was something Gabe didn't expect at all. In a flash Mr. Millers was lifting him off the ground. Not that it was uncomfortable since being a ghost he didn't have similar needs as humans had, including breath, food or sleep.

“I thought you would look different.” Mr. Millers said with a malicious grin.

“Sorry to disappoint ya. But then again I am not a ghost so obviously I don't look like one.” Gabe tried to crack a smile. Trying to act like he was struggling in the grip was harder than he'd imagined it would be.

“You think I'll believe that? No one else comes here. Well, it doesn't matter what you look like. As long as you just give me what I came here for.”

“And what is it that you came here for?”

“I came here for you to return a soul you took.”

“A soul I took? Do I look like a reaper now?”

“Don't act funny. I came here with every spell I might need. Give me the fucking soul and I'll leave right now.”

“I don't understand what soul you're referring to.” Gabe said. Since he was directing all of his energy on the additional time bubble around him and Mr. Millers he had no idea whether the brothers had already gotten to the spot with the police. Luckily he'd taken a recorder with him, just in case.

However, the worst part was that he couldn't reveal his identity to the man since the bubble wasn't covering everyone. If the rest can't see him in his true form then whatever Mr. Millers might say after seeing him might change the truth in a negative view. They'd think he's mad when he's just purely bad. This man didn't deserve a psychiatric ward. He deserved the jail. Dean had shown Gabe some pictures, of Dorian’s file, he'd taken with his phone. The boy was already sleeping peacefully since He didn't have any last wishes to fulfill but he deserved justice.

“Don't act like a fool. You took Leo’s life fifteen years ago. Since then my Susie has been a mad woman. You have no idea how much I've tried to make her forget Leo and love me instead but she would have none of it. She said if I can return Leo to her then she'll love me.”

Gabe saw how a mad twinkle took over Mr. Millers’ eyes. It was more than clear that Mr. Millers wasn't any less of a mad man than his wife was a mad woman.

“I don't know any Leo. Nor a Susie for that matter. There's no soul I can return to you, nor do I have the ability to do so.” Gabe pretended to barely huff the words, still dangling in Mr. Millers’ grip.

“I already told you not to lie!” Mr. Millers flung Gabe down. “First you took the form of a woman and then you lured Leo into kissing you. You sealed the day of his death with that kiss, right in front of the eyes of my Susie.”

“I did no such thing,” Gabe said as he stood up. “I think I have endured enough shape shiftings for one day since I'm just a human, not a shapeshifter,” he lied, “And what comes to this Leo, I don't know who he is, or who Susie is for that matter. So I'm sorry but I can't return any souls to you.” 

The madness in Mr. Millers’ eyes spread into his entire face. One stride and he was dangling Gabe by his collar again.

“Don't you dare to play games with me. Besides denying won't help, you have to do it. I made a human sacrifice to you. Now you owe me a wish. And I want you to return Leo to the world of the living.”

Gabe felt ice surround his heart. Mr. Millers clearly meant Dorian when he spoke about the human sacrifice. Gabe couldn't believe that the boy had died because of him. Well, not exactly because of him. But still, he'd died as a sacrifice for him. Gabe wanted to kiss Mr. Millers right then and there, make the man experience hell on earth.

Of course he knew who Leo was. That boy came often to visit the grave of his aunt in the newer part of the churchyard. That's where he'd met the unknown girl who'd come to meet her father's grave. Gabe had never gotten her name. Gabe remembered all those times when for some reason out of all the world’s romantic places they chose to come to the graveyard. Not that he minded, seeing lovers enjoying each other's company wasn't bad. Besides the most outrageous thing Gabe had seen them do was kiss. They didn't even flirt that much. The couple was the shiest and the most adorable one Gabe had seen in the 90s.

Susie, on the other hand, was someone Gabe couldn't remember at all. And his memory was a matter of pride for him. He had no idea where Susie fit in this entire story.

“I'm telling you for the last time I'm not a damn pagan god you make sacrifices for. I can't return any dead people,” Gabe said through his gritted teeth.

“Don't you dare to lie on my face,” Mr. Millers shook Gabe as if he was nothing but a mere toy, “I made a sacrifice for you. I even engraved your insignia on his leg. I know that the way I cut him up wasn't traditional but I had to avoid getting caught. But don't worry, the quality of his soul should make up for my poor job. Now just give the dam soul to me and I'll leave you alone!” Mr. Millers was shouting at Gabe on the top of his lungs.

Finally, Gabe could drop the act of suffering under such rough treatment. He'd made Mr. Millers say the essential thing. He'd said it himself, he'd killed Dorian because he wanted to return a soul. The police wouldn't take that well. Gabe just hoped that once he took the bubble off of around them the police would be there. 

Even though Mr. Millers didn't realize what exactly happened he could feel the energy shift since the lack of eye contact had made Gabe use a stronger spell. He seemed to realize that maybe the bad cop approach wasn't the best way to deal with a ghost. He quickly dug out a piece of paper. Gabe guessed it was one of those “spells” he'd brought to control Gabe.

“Hands up!” A shout came from behind Gabe. The brothers had arrived with the police. Gabe had thought that Mr. Millers would run for his life. He didn't. Instead he drew out a sharpened wooden stake.

“If I couldn't get Susie to love me it was your fault. I won't let you get away with it.” He snarled.

After the dramatic threat a few things happened in a very short time. Mr. Millers charged at him. A bullet shot through the air and at the same time someone yanked Gabe backwards. Soon Mr. Millers was struggling in handcuffs, he was shouting profanities and pleading the policemen to let him go to his Susie.

Meanwhile everyone else had surrounded Gabe. Specially Sam. He had framed Gabe into his embrace while trying to save him from the attack.

“Are you alright?” Sam asked him.

“Yeah, I'm perfectly fine.” Gabe said with a smile.

“You should've been careful Gabe.” Bobby grumbled and everyone joined the round of scolds.

It stopped when a police officer came to ask Gabe about the things that had happened before they had arrived. The men were taken to the police station. After a few hours of giving their statements all of them dispersed into different direction. Bobby, Crowley and Castiel went home, Dean returned to the motel, Sam and Gabriel went back to the churchyard.

They were sitting on their gravestone. The birds were chirping and despite the sunny weather wind was blowing hard enough to mess up both Gabe and Sam’s hair.

“You should've been careful.”

“I was as careful as anyone could be in such a situation.”

“I know but still…”

“Sam, it was a wooden stake. What do you think I am, a Twilight vampire?” Gabe exclaimed making Sam chuckle.

“No, you're my ghost in distress.”

It would've been a lie to say that Sam was perfectly okay with how things ended but he was ready for whatever was about to come their way. As long as Gabe didn't live up to his reputation of being a killer.


	16. Epilogue: Years Later

Sam should've know that his joints wouldn't take the trip well. Cursing his stars he entered the churchyard where Daniel, Dorian’s younger brother, was waiting for him.

“You've grown quite a lot.” He said when he saw the younger man. Waiting for him in front of his mother’s grave.

“I haven't grown even an inch since your last visit. You've just grown older.” Daniel said with a smile.

“True.” Sam chuckled at the comment. “Anyway, what are you doing here? Gabe said that someone Crowley knew would be here.”

“Do you really think that Crowley would've trusted anyone else but his son to succeed him with the spells and the potions?”

Sam smiled, “No, I don't think so.”

“Exactly.”

 

After Mr. Millers had been arrested the police had dug deeper into the case and found out about Susie. She had been a classmate of Leo’s. They used to date up until Leo broke up because she was too possessive. Susie didn't like it, neither did she like Leo falling in love with someone else. In fact she was the one to kill Leo. No one knew what happened to Leo’s girlfriend. The girl went missing on the night of Leo’s death.

Susie, however, was taken over by her guilt, like some character in Poe’s works. Soon the memory began to haunt her to the point where she began to get haunted by Leo’s “ghost”. The true legend of the town just fueled her hallucinations further.

Mr. Millers didn't care. He'd been the neighbor’s son who'd been in love with Susie since they were little. Despite knowing about Susie’s mental condition he married her. Few years in Dorian was born and somehow Susie managed to convince Mr. Millers that the child wasn't his. That Dorian was in fact Leo’s son. This started a strange and unexplainable cycle of hate that Mr. Millers had started to even spread to his younger son, Daniel. Hence the warning of that evening when the boys had followed Sam. Apparently Mr. Millers had made Daniel join all of the planning, because he had to know that his brother was the epitome of injustice and sin and he was cursed by a ghost.

No one could make Mr. Millers see that he'd killed his own son due to superstition born from jealousy. Susie Millers passed away in the psychiatric ward a few towns away. Daniels, under special orders, was sent to live with Bobby and Crowley. Now years later Sam was glad to see, that despite everything Daniel had grown into a fine young man.

“Here we are,” Daniel indicated Sam and Gabe’s gravestone.

It was covered in moss now. Except the two spots clearly indicating where Sam and Gabe sat whenever they came here.

“Where's Gabe?” Sam asked, his eyes searching for the shorter man.

“He's still getting ready,” Daniel said with a fed up raise of an eyebrow.

Sam couldn't help laughing at the gesture. By now he was well aware of how troublesome Gabe could be when it was about dressing up for special occasions. Since being bound to the churchyard, only able to go to Bobby’s with the help of Crowley, Gabe couldn't really travel with Sam. But Sam had made sure to often come by in the town to create memories with Gabe.

“So you are going to do it then?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, don't worry. I know what I'm doing.”

“I'm not worrying. Rather I'm curious. How does it work?”

“When Gabe died some sort of last wish or curse, not necessarily made by Gabe, bound him to the world of the living. The kiss meant the end for the victims but later on Crowley put some spell that made it easy for them to move on instead of being stuck on earth with Gabe,” Daniel explained, “Must've been a hell to be stuck with him…” he huffed under his breath with a quick roll of his eyes before continuing with the explanation, “Anyway, whatever day you guys choose you’ll just have to say it out loud and seal the deal with a kiss. But I've managed to craft a spell. It should change the original spell and make Gabe follow you.”

Sam could see that Daniel was getting nervous but he trusted the boy. “Sounds great.”

A rustle caught Sam’s attention. It didn't take long for him to realize that it was Gabe walking up to him in a stylish tux. Sam would've laughed at him for being formal but he was wearing one too. 

“Hi handsome,” Gabe said shyly.

“Hey,” Sam whispered, “Gabe.”

From closer, where Sam could actually see the man properly, Gabe looked breathtakingly dashing. He had remained young while Sam had gotten old and wrinkly.

“You're looking wonderful,” Sam said,

“So are you.”

“I could practically be your father Gabe.” Sam blushed. It was a miracle that he had managed to keep Gabe’s love for himself. Of course he knew that Gabe was far older than Sam could ever be but it didn't stop him from being self conscious.

As if reading Sam’s thoughts Gabe caressed his cheeks. “Of course you have to be a spoilsport on such a beautiful day. Don't worry I'm into many kinks, including daddy kink. Besides soon we'll be equally old.”

“I’m the one being a spoilsport? You are the spoilsport here with your wild imagination.” Sam said. And then he asked again, “Are you sure?”

“I am.” Gabe assured him for the thousandth time. “How long do you have left?”

“Way too much. I've done everything I wanted to do. Achieved everything I wanted to. Now there's nothing else. They said that there's still time despite it being stage four, but I'm tired of waiting. Thank you for waiting for me.”

“Thank you for not turning away from me because of who I was.”

Sam looked Gabe into the eyes. He could feel the energy of Gabe’s powers settle upon him.

“What if it's downstairs?” He asked one last question.

“I'll follow you no matter where you go. I couldn't stop you from returning to me all these years so neither can you stop me from following you, no matter whether it's downstairs, or more probably upstairs. Actually it better be upstairs, when I was a kid our priest told me there'd be a tree of candies waiting for me.”

Instead of feeling amused Sam felt his heart skip a beat.

“Fine,” he said with a small chuckle.

Gabe smiled.

They dug out the rings they had gotten years ago from Crowley. It wouldn't be a real wedding but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that they’d together, that Gabe wouldn't have to be alone ever again. Sam slipped the ring on Gabe’s finger and he felt the cold metal slide against his finger when Gabe slid the other ring on his finger.

Once the exchanging of rings was done Sam could hear Daniel start chanting the spell.

The wind ruffled Daniel’s jacket sleeves, snatching the chanted words and carrying it to the lovers standing by the gravestone. He squinted against the bright sunlight watching as the breeze picked up speed, whipping the two men’s hair over their smiling faces. Daniel’s arm which held the spell sheet dropped back to his side as he saw something familiar start to materialize next to the fallen gravestone. Watching as they both looked up at him for one last time, he could hear them say in unison, “Good job, son.” over the now roaring wind. Once they looked away, only to focus on each other Daniel knew his job was done.

“So when’s the date Samshine?” Gabe asked.

“Right now, right here.”

With a delighted smile Gabe leaned closer and Sam pressed his lips to Gabe's as the wind blew on the sunny day in the older churchyard.


End file.
